The ethical barometer: simple checklist to know how far off an ecosystem actually is from what it should be in terms of good and bad
From time to time, I will share some knowledge and insights on integrity via the Risk & Compliance Platform Europe. I started The Integrity Talks to connect business and personal. About this initiative: nothing is worth losing our integrity and humanity for. Sharing thoughts, from a variety of closed-up communities to all sorts of business ecosystems and from individual and autonomous choices to joint risk, governance or compliance agreements.
The business world and other ecosystems need to handle many ethical matters on a daily basis. The day-to-day actions, choices and interaction with others – both directly ‘in their face’ and behind their back, when they are not around make people’s integrity tangible. Of course, we do know how many ecosystems are not ethical at all. Besides, we know that when ecosystems want to keep track of the gradation of their ethical climate, there are always individuals who will try to continue to act in an egoistic or even socially sick manner.
The pressure from those individuals on the whole – sometimes indirectly, through using others as chess pieces in their game / battle is one of the symptoms of a socially sick culture. People’s wellbeing literally gets jeopardized. Such pressure can have massive physical and mental health consequences.
Moreover, pressure can come with many losses, including the lack of public successes, favor and mostly recognition that would otherwise have been theirs. In fact, that truly belongs to them, not only due to their content, but mostly because they will never show entitlement the way those bad individuals will – not in their thinking, attitude or behavior. In my work, I always connect reputation management to integrity and wellbeing in a 360 degrees cycle, because pressure will impact all three and because there is not one without the other.
